Champions League 2025-26: Club Brugge Thumps Monaco 4-1; Eintracht Frankfurt Hammers Galatasaray

Captain Hans Vanaken led from the front when Club Brugge received a 4-1 banging from Monaco in the Jan Breydel Stadium on Thursday to underline his potential for a good run in the UEFA Champions League this season.

Vanaken scored one goal and laid the other when the home team was fantastic in attack, with Nicolo Tresoldi, Raphael Onyedika and the 19-year-old Mamadou Diakhon on goal. Ansu Fati scored a late comfort for the visitor.

Monaco had a chance from the penalty spot with the score on 0-0 after home goalkeeper Simon Mignolet was assessed to have brought down Mika Biereth.

But the 37-year-old Mignolet, who had to leave the field with a groin problem shortly thereafter, saved the efforts of Maghnes Akliouche from 12 meters.

Tresoldi gave Bruges the lead in the 32nd minute of the smart pass Vanaken in the box, and Onyedika changed the ball up close it just after he had performed for a second by Carlos Forbs.

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From the characteristic powerful shot in the net from the edge of the box, the score made 3-0 during the break and Teen Diakhon yielded a fourth with 15 minutes, his first goal for the club.

Eintracht Frankfurt Hammers Galatasaray

Hosts Eintracht Frankfurt scored four times in 29 minutes to bounce back from a goal down and Hammer Galatasaray with 5-1 in his Champions League opener.

The Turks had hit Frankfurt during the break in which Yunus Akgun completed the move of a Leroy Sane Assist in the eighth minute. Germany International Sane, who came from Bayern Munich this season, became the only player in the history of Champions League who played for four or more clubs and scored or assisted with his debut for each of them.

Frankfurt, who only fought the second time in the main round of the Champions League, struggled to break the defense of Galatasaray into a defensive fault of Akgun in the 37th minute. Ritsu Doan jumped, accused in the box, and Davinson Sanchez brought the shot of the Japanese winger for his own goal.

The host took the lead in the first half of the stop time when 19-year-old Turkey International Can Uzun scored an excellent goal on his Champions League debut after Fine Control and a quick turn in the box. The host rose again before half-time, with the well-timed look of Jonathan Burkardt who put it up 3-1.

With the visitor forced to take more risks after the break, Frankfurt found space and Burkardt completed his Dream Champions League debut with a different header in the 66th for his second goal of the evening. Ansgar Knauff completed the routes in the 75th.

Frankfurt then travels to Atletico Madrid on 30 September when Galatasaray Liverpool organizes.

Published on September 19, 2025